…and everything in its place. Oh, how I wish that could be my motto! I really hate spending any more time than necessary searching for things, whether they are vitally important, like passports and tax returns, or more trivial, such as a favourite lipstick or scarf. With five family members and too little storage space, I sometimes feel that I am fighting a constant battle against STUFF. However much I try to clear out and give to charity shops, sell on eBay or just shove into the loft, there just doesn’t seem to be any respite.

The main problem areas are the kids’ rooms and playroom as well as our bedroom, which also serves as my office. I get sent a lot of press releases and look books which I print out (not the most Eco friendly way of working I know, but I like to be able to underline key passages and make notes in the margins) so at the end of the day my desk is often a sea of papers.

And as anyone with kids knows, however much you encourage them to tidy their room before bedtime by the next morning it inevitably looks like a bombsite again. After we spent hours sorting all his Lego into different boxes by colour, Cameron’s room is not too bad but both Casper and Clemmie still have a tendency to empty out every single toy on the floor when they’re playing.

The answer, for me at least, is lots of spacious storage boxes that you can quickly scoop all the toys into. Zara Home has some of the best kids’ storage solutions on the high street, like these boxes on castors. The boys have one each in white and I’m tempted to get this girly one for Clemmie’s dolls and soft toys. The little suitcases are also from Zara Home and are perfect for smaller bits and pieces, like toy cars or dolls’ accessories. Danish House Doctor is one of my favourite brands for homeware and this striped basket to hang on the door handle is really cute. I think one of these on each of their bedroom doors would be great for dumping toys and other paraphernalia in after doing the ‘downstairs sweep’ while they’re all in bed, ready for them to put away the following morning. I also like these storage baskets in the bottom row of the picture (l-r) from Ferm Living (another Danish brand, what is it about the Danes and interior design?), The White Company and H&M (which also has a great range of affordable storage solutions).

For the home office, House Doctor again has some of the best and most stylish accessories, like these Creative Play storage boxes (bottom row, middle picture) which I ordered today from Design Vintage to store all my work papers in. The nifty wall storage unit is also by House Doctor, as is the rustic wire letter tray (in the bottom left picture) and the magazine files (top right). The white lacquer trays (from The White Company) are perfect on a dressing table or on top of a chest of drawers to hold jewellery, candles or makeup. And one can never have too many baskets – I use them to store everything from shoes, hats, scarves and gloves to all the chargers and headphones for phones/computers/iPads as well as the kids’ paints and craft materials. I usually buy mine from Ikea but this one from The White Company has a lovely washed grey finish.